


the climb

by banesarrow (orphan_account)



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hannah Montana Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bilingual Character(s), Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hannah Montana References, M/M, original characters aka carlos' family, rini is barely there, there's a lot of spanish involved
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23114293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/banesarrow
Summary: After a scandal, famous teen star Carlos Rodriguez is forced to take a break away from the spotlight.With his whole life on the line, he needs to prove that he didn't forget where he came from. Just a month at his abuela's farm.What could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Gina Porter & Carlos Rodriguez, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts, Seb Matthew-Smith & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	the climb

It was a known fact that Carlos Rodriguez wasn’t a morning person. He had talked about it on many interviews and his countless insta stories complaining whenever he had early rehearsals were proof enough to back it up. That’s why, when somebody turned on the lights of his bedroom and woke him up that day, he was definitely not happy about it.  
He groaned, opening his eyes just enough to see his dad standing on the doorway, and tried to cover his head with his blankets. His dad janked them back and dumped something on the bed.  
“What the hell, dad?” he complained, sitting on his bed and finally opening his eyes. The man, who already looked annoyed, silently pointed to whatever it was that he had dropped on the bed.  
Carlos went pale, his annoyance forgotten. It was a bunch of magazines, all of them featuring him.  
“Stars Collide! Actor and singer Carlos Rodriguez and waterpolo player EJ Caswell caught fighting at a mall” read the first headline over a collage of clear pictures of him and EJ pushing each other and arguing. Carlos had to admit it did not look good. The rest of them were pretty similar too. He looked at his dad with a guilty expression on his face.  
“Care to explain qué carajo is this?” asked the man and, even though his tone was mostly calm, the fact that he used Spanish made it clear to Carlos that he was angry.  
“I wanted to buy something for Gina to congratulate her on her dance scholarship at that performing school she wanted to get in and saw these amazing shoes that screamed her name” started to explain the boy, looking at his hands. “They were the only pair left but when I was about to buy them, this asshole AJ or whatever said that he wanted the same ones in the same number and things escalated pretty quickly. In my defence I called the shoes first and he was being an asshole” added Carlos putting his hands up. His dad sighed.  
“I don’t care who called the freaking shoes first, this is completely unacceptable and immature! Which is basically your behaviour lately” said the man, and Carlos could clearly see the disappointment in his eyes. It made his heart ache. “Be smart, stay humble and don’t let fame get to your head. Those were the conditions when I agree to let you pursue a life in the arts as you wanted to”  
“What are you trying to say?” asked Carlos, his voice getting higher as he panicked. He must be reading the situation wrong, his dad couldn’t be saying what he was thinking. “You are not going to force me to quit, are you?”  
“Not for now. But you need to remember where you came from before your head gets bigger, get out of the spotlight for some time” concluded the man walking towards the door. Carlos jumped to his feet, his head spinning.  
“No! Dad, I have auditions coming and-”  
“You are seventeen. There’s going to be plenty of opportunities coming later but, as for right now? You need to prove that you didn’t forget who you are behind the star. And not to me. To yourself. A month just being Carlos, and then we’ll decide if you are ready to go back to the spotlight”  
“Pero dad-” started Carlos, but was interrupted again.  
“Nada de ‘peros’. Start packing your stuff, we leave for the farm at night y punto” said the man as he left the room.  
Carlos ran a hand through his hair, feeling like his whole world was falling apart. Ever since he was twelve he had lived under the lights of hundreds of spotlights, whether is was on dancing competitions, performing on big musicals on Broadway and touring companies, acting in blockbusters movies or touring around the country with his new solo album. His life had changed so much, so fast that he couldn’t even remember how his life was before. He couldn’t remember who he was before all that. His dad was right.  
That’s how he ended up in an old truck while his father drove them through a road that didn’t seem to have an end. Carlos was thinking about trying to sleep when the truck suddenly stopped. The boy rolled his eyes. Great.  
His dad got out to check the engine and the tires and Carlos got tired. So much for trying to have a positive attitude to this. He got out too, sitting on a rock on the side of the road.  
“This is stupid, can we call an Uber or something and go back- hey!” his complaint interrupted when something took his hat. He turned around to see a gay horse with it on his mouth. “Give it back, whatever your name is!” he exclaimed, trying to take it back.  
“This is so much worse than I expected” sighed his dad, disappointingly. “You don’t even recognize your own horse”  
Carlos looked back at the animal, with a guilty expression on his face as he noticed the black spot on the side of its nose.  
“Blue Jeans?” he whispered and slowly reached to pet him. The horse let him without hesitation, as if the last ten years hadn’t passed. Carlos smiled and crossed over the fence just as his dad was able to start the truck again. The man smiled at him when he saw him petting the animal.  
“The house is about two miles down the road, okay? I’ll let you both catch up” and with that he started driving away. Carlos watched as the truck became smaller and then looked at Blue Jeans again. Now that he got a closer look at him he felt stupid for not being able to recognize him earlier. It looked just the same as he did when his mum had brought him home for his birthday. He had always wanted one so he could ride with his mum around the farm. He was five when his wish was fulfilled. Her mum taught him everything he needed to know and soon he was able to ride Blue Jeans without any supervision.  
He didn’t realize he was crying until the horse nudged at his hand, already missing the pets. He let out a shaky laugh as he wiped his tears.  
“Okay, let’s see if we still got this, okay?” he said, kicking his foot on a rock to gain the impulse to climb on the horse. Surprisingly, he could do it on the first try, although he had landed on a kind of uncomfortable position. “Now, be a good boy and stay still until I-” he couldn’t finish his sentence. The horse suddenly started running, throwing him to the ground on the process. It didn’t hurt, but he still groaned as he got up. “Blue Jeans!” he yelled, trying to get the horse to come back with no luck. Instead, he heard the sound of galloping getting closer and he barely had time to get out of the way before someone passed fast by his side.  
He watched with curiosity as the boy chased his horse and caught it effortlessly. When he got back to where Carlos was standing, he got down of his brown horse. He was pretty cute, if Carlos had to say it, and it took him a lot of effort to hide his blush when he tipped his cowboy hat and smiled at him.  
“Hi” said the stranger as he went to untie the rope around Blue Jeans. “You alright?” he asked raising an eyebrow as Carlos didn’t answer him, too busy staring at the animal. “He doesn’t really take well to strangers”  
“I know” said Carlos quickly, almost defensively. “He’s my horse”. At that the boy turned to look at him, a surprised expression in his face as he looked at Carlos up and down. He had the strange urge to cross his arms, feeling like he was being judged, but decided against it. He had been judged by far more intimidating people before, he was not about the chicken out for that random boy.  
“Carlos?” asked the boy, a smile beginning to form on his lips. “Carlos Rodriguez? It’s me, Seb!” he said with a small laugh and Carlos raised his eyebrows, surprised. “Seb Matthew-Smith, we went to kindergarten together. And first grade too” he added, misinterpreting the boy’s reaction.  
“I remember you, okay?” said the brunette, smiling, as memories started to flood his mind. “I also remember you constantly teasing me. And you locking us inside the henhouse, what was that about?” he said laughing. Seb let out an awkward laugh and hid his face on his palms.  
“Yeah, I guess I had a pretty big crush on you back then” he admitted as he started to twist the rope on his hands. “Don’t worry about it. I’m over it” he said with a small laugh. Carlos smiled in response.  
“Good to know” he replied, trying to ignore the slight disappointment he felt. Why should it affect him if Seb didn’t have a childhood crush on him anymore?  
“Let me take you to your grandma’s house. She was very happy when your dad told her you were coming over” Carlos felt a pang of guilt on his chest, but smiled as he tried to get on Blue Jeans, but the horse wasn’t cooperating. Seb shook his head with a smile. “He might need some time to trust you again. In the meantime, Lancelot is strong enough for both of us”  
The ride was quite comfortable, mostly Carlos telling Seb what he’d been up to all those years.  
“So you’re basically living the dream” said the blonde, turning his head back to look at the boy behind him.  
“Yeah, you could say that” answer Carlos, taking in his surroundings that were becoming more and more familiar as they got closer to the house.  
“How long are you staying here?”  
“A month”  
“Good luck with that” chuckled Seb. Carlos frowned.  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, a little bit offended.  
“Considering the fact that you fell off your own horse and the clothes that you are wearing…” Carlos scoffed. What was so wrong with his shiny shirt and leather pants anyway? “You’ve become a little too New Yorker” added the boy, and Carlos detected a hint of disdain on his voice.  
“You know nothing about me” he snapped, starting to get annoyed. “Or New York, for the matter”  
The next couple of minutes until they arrived at the house were tense, none of them daring to speak.  
“Hey, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t-” started to apologize Seb when Carlos got off the horse.  
“No, It’s okay. I’m sorry for the way I reacted, it wasn’t cool. Thanks for the ride. And for getting my horse earlier” he cut him, smiling. He could use a friend, if he was going to have to spend the next 30 days away from civilization.  
“No worries” said Seb, relieved. “It’s my job. I’m helping your grandma with the farm, it’s starting to get too big for her to take care of everything” Carlos nodded.  
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around then, Seb” he said with a wink, starting to walk towards the house, smiling at the small “see ya” that mumbled the blonde.  
He got into the house trying not to look around too much and followed the noise till he found his family in the dining room. He stood on the doorway, looking as his abuela set the food on the table. The woman looked up, a big smile appearing on his face when he caught sight of the boy.  
“Mi niño!” exclaimed the lady and quickly wrapped him in a big hug.  
“Hi abuela” he said, softly, suddenly overwhelmed with many emotions.  
“Ay pero mírate qué grande estás, you’re even taller than me” said in the woman, looking at him from head to toe before hugging him again. “Ay pero qué guapo, qué handsome, ya eres todo un hombre”  
Carlos blinked away his tears before breaking the hug.  
“I missed you too, abuelita” the lady smiled and urged him to sit down and start eating before the rest of his relatives arrived, all too excited to see him.  
Lunch was uneventful, but by the end of it Carlos wanted nothing more than to lock himself in a bedroom. Going back to his childhood house had brought a lot of emotions that he was desperately trying to hide. But unfortunately, when he was about to excuse himself, his aunts and uncles started to arrive, most of them with children -his cousins, he reminded himself- he had never met.  
Carlos was trying so hard to be polite and nice to them, but his head was starting to hurt and some of the kids were a little too loud for his liking, which made his mood worse with every little scream.  
“So, Carlos, dime, do you have any upcoming projects?” asked one of his tías.  
“I had some auditions next week that had to be rescheduled” he didn’t intended for that to sound as bitter as it did, and his dad shot him a warning look, but wasn’t really in the mood to care.  
“Your mom would be so proud of you” said his tío. “And you don’t have an idea how much you’re starting to look like her”  
That comment was enough for Carlos, who stayed silent for a few seconds before standing up.  
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to my room” he said, not looking at anyone in particular and he almost run up the stairs that led to his old room, freezing when he opened the door.  
It was exactly as he remembered it,only the toys gone. His desk was there, and so were his old blankets, some of the books he had left behind and his favourite teddy bear. He slowly stepped into the room and grabbed the bear, tears beginning to form at the back of his eyes. He brought it to his chest and the faint smell of woman perfume filled his nose.  
He broke down.  
There was a reason why he had avoided going back to the farm for so long. Everything there reminded him of his mum. She was everywhere. In the large sunflower fields, in the colorful stables, in the piano on that corner of the living room…  
Carlos sat on the bed, letting the tears fall, suddenly feeling like he was 6 again. He felt his chest hurt, his brain shutting down. He felt angry and empty at the same time, his body numb. He wanted to scream but was incapable of making any noise.  
He thought he was done grieving, that he had accepted his mother’s death. He now realized that he never really got to grief.  
His mother died when he was six. It was completely sudden and unexpected. A heart failure, they said. It had been rough, as Carlos was really close with his mum. He had locked himself on his room and refused to talk to anybody. All he wanted was his mum. A couple of months later, his father was flying them to New York. “We need to start over” he had explained to the crying boy, who was cuddling the teddy bear that his mother had given him when he was just a little baby. And so they left everything behind and ran away from the pain. He had never wanted to come back since.  
Now that pain he had been hiding for had found him, and he couldn’t ran away this time. He needed to face it.  
He let the tears flow as he lied on the bed, clutching onto the teddy bear as if his life depended on it. When he had no tears left, he felt the tiredness wash over him, his eyelids becoming heavier as sleep got hold of him.  
A knock on the door awoken him. He wanted to pretend that he hadn’t heard, but the person knocked again. Sighing, he got up an opened the door. There stood his grandma, a cup of coffee and cookies on a tray.  
“Can I come in?” she asked. Carlos nodded and move aside so she could enter. If she had noticed his red, puffy eyes, she was kind enough not to mention it. “I figured you wouldn’t want to come down while the rest of the family is still here, so I made you a little treat. What do you think?” said the woman as she placed everything in the nightstand and sat on his bed. Despite everything, Carlos forced himself to smile.  
“Thanks, abuelita” he said as he sat next to her, but his eyes fixed on a picture behind the tray.  
It was one of him and his mother playing with a baby bunny. Carlos felt like crying again, and his grandma was quick to notice.  
“You know, I keep thinking I should change the wallpapers, but your mum picked them” she began. The boy blinked away his tears and looked at her. “We all miss her”  
“I like the paper” mumbled Carlos with a weak smile.  
“You used to like a lot of thing back then, when I could actually see you” said the lady, and Carlos’ smile disappeared.  
“Abuela…”  
“Ya sé, hijo, it’s nothing personal, I know” she reassured him and grabbed his hands. “I just miss my Carlos”  
“Why does everyone keeps saying that?” whispered the boy, genuinely confused.  
“Maybe you should ask yourself that question” answered the woman, squeezing his hand before getting up.  
“Wait” exclaimed Carlos. The woman turned around. “Te quiero, abuelita” he said softly.  
“Yo a tí, mi niño” she replied with a big smile on her face and shut the door.  
***  
“Good morning!” shouted his dad as he opened the curtains, the sunlight going straight to Carlos’ eyes. The boy groaned, and covered his face with his pillow. “Rise and shine, country boy” he teased as he left the room, which only made the boy groan again. He turned to the side and watched the time on his phone, cursing under his breath. It was 6 am.  
He was tempted to go back to sleep, maybe he could just block the sunlight with the blankets or something, but he was suddenly reminded of why he was there. He needed to prove that he still remembered what was like to be himself.  
“Operation ‘save my career’ begins” he whispered to himself, somehow finding the strength to get out of the bed. If they wanted a country boy, then a country boy they would have.  
“Buenos días” he said cheerfully as he entered the kitchen. His father and grandmother raised their eyebrows at him.  
“What’s up with that look today?” asked his father. Carlos shrugged.  
“I don’t know, it’s just… nostalgia I guess. I wanted to see if I could still rock some overalls and flannels like I used to” he joked. His grandma smiled.  
“Well, you totally do” she assured him. “Coffee?”  
“Actually, I wanted to collect some fresh eggs for breakfast, you know, like I used to…” he trailed off, not wanting his plan to be so obvious. Clearly, judging for the expressions on his family faces, he wasn’t succeeding. “Okay, bye!” he said quickly as he got out and ran to the henhouse.  
Needless to say, it was a disaster. He didn’t remember hens being so protective over their eggs, or so aggressive in general. When he got back to the house, his father was already laughing at him.  
“How many eggs survived?” he teased him. Carlos sighed and placed three eggs on the counter, which made his dad snort.  
“C’mon, mijo, give him a break!” his grandma scolded him and Carlos smirked, sharing an amused look with the woman. “And, you go change until I finish making breakfast because I’m taking you to the farmer’s market”.  
Yay.  
After a quick breakfast and around an hour of driving, they made it to the market. There were a lot of people walking around, everybody talking with everybody as they did their shopping. Many people stopped to say hi to them, and Carlos was surprised when they recognized him not as the famous Carlos Rodriguez, but simply as his abuela’s grandson. It was nice, kind of.  
“When we finish selling all these stuff”, started his grandma, pointing at the jars of jam on Carlos’ arms “maybe we can do a little shopping here” she said, now pointing at a store behind him. He turned around and all he could see was jeans and flannels and clothes that simply weren’t his style.  
“I’m good” he said, forcing a smile and started to walk away.  
“Escucha mijo” said the woman, and the anger on her tone made the boy stop and turn back. “You may be the big Carlos Rodriguez in New York, but here you’re just like us. And if that ain’t good enough for you, maybe you should pack up and leave” There it was again, that pang of guilt. It was clear that his grandma felt hurt, and he didn’t know what to say. “You may think you can fool us, but you are not fooling me” The boy looked down, tears burning on the back of his eyes. “I’m sorry, but I think that you should consider yourself lucky to have a place like this to call home”  
Carlos tried to swallow the knot on his throat. His grandma was right, and he knew it, and he felt so bad for not knowing how to show it.  
“I do” he said, finally looking up. “And I’m sorry, I really am” he added, not being able to stop his voice from cracking. His grandma softened and placed a hand on his cheek.  
“Lo sé, mi niño” she said with a smile. “Now, c’mon, we got some stuff to sell”  
When they got back home it was well past midday, but they didn’t mind. They had sold everything and Carlos accepted his grandma’s suggestion to buy some new clothes, even if it was just his way of apologizing from the situation earlier.  
After a quick lunch, Carlos took his guitar and headed towards the stables. When he was little he loved to climb the ladder to the second floor, where all the hay was stocked, and he used to go there whenever he wanted to be alone. It was like his secret hiding spot. He would bing his guitar or his MP3 and hide from the world, sometimes singing, other dancing, and, in rare occasions, writing. It was there where he realized he wanted to pursue a life in the arts. Maybe, he thought, if he went back there he would remember who he was before the celebrity.  
He started playing random chords on the guitar until he came up with a melody and, finally, he could put some words in it. It had been a while since the last time he actually wrote a song from scratch, and he suddenly felt so motivated that he lost track of time and space and didn’t notice that someone was watching him until he turned to write something on his notebook, startling when he saw Seb behind a pile of hay.  
“I’m s-sorry” stammered the boy, embarrassed at being caught. “Don’t stop I… I’m going”  
“Don’t worry about it” said Carlos, quickly, not wanting the boy to leave. “I was just kicking off” Seb smiled.  
“I think it’s nice you’re still doing this singing thing. Everyone knows it’s what you’ve always wanted to do” he said, but started to climb down the ladder anyway. “You’ve got a nice voice” he said, stopping midway.  
“Thanks, I’ve heard that” muttered the boy, only himself being able to hear it. “So, what did you think of the song?” he blurted out before thinking twice, looking down at Seb.  
“It seems you’ve got most of it down” he said after landing on his feet. “I’m gonna let you keep working on it” And just with that he grabbed a bag and left. Carlos stayed frozen in place for a few seconds before deciding to follow him. He found him by a henhouse, or actually what once was a henhouse.  
“Why didn’t you like it?” he asked, sounding more offended than he actually was.  
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it” say Seb, going into the henhouse.  
“But you didn’t say you did” he protested as he followed the guy, grimacing in disgust as he went into the place. If it looked ugly on the outside, on the inside it was worse. There were spider webs everywhere and Carlos was pretty sure he stepped on a bone or two. It was not like he was going to check if he was right, though.  
“It’s not bad. In fact I liked the melody. It just wasn’t...” the boy stopped, trying to find the right words.  
“Good?” tried Carlos, folding his arms defensively.  
“Authentic” corrected the blonde. “It doesn’t tell me anything about who you are, or what you are feeling”  
“You don’t wanna know what I’m feeling right now” hissed Carlos. Seb sighed and kept on doing whatever is he was doing. Carlos ran a hand through his hair, already regretting having said that. “Sorry, I don’t know why I got so defensive. I guess I’m just used to people telling me they love my songs no matter how shitty they are” he joked. Seb chuckled, and it was as if some of the tension in the air evaporated. “What are you doing here?” he asked, changing the topic.  
“Starting a business” said the boy, as he threw more stuff outside. “I’ve got a deal with your grandma. I rebuild this thing, I get to sell the eggs” he explained.  
“That’s… a lot of rebuilding” commented Carlos, leaning against a wall and looking around. It really was. The whole place looked as if it’d fell down any minute.  
“Hey. You gotta start somewhere, right?” said Seb, walking closer to the boy. “Life’s a climb, but the view is great” he added with a wink and walked to the stables. Carlos followed him.  
“Is that all you wanna do? Sell eggs on the local market?” he asked.  
“Where else am I gonna sell them?” asked Seb in return. Carlos rolled his eyes.  
“That’s not what I meant”  
“I know what you meant. You just don’t get this place at all, do you?” asked the blonde, and a shadow of sadness appeared on his face, but as quickly as it had appeared it went away, as he placed a saddle on Carlos’ arms. “Saddle up!” he commanded, putting on his cowboy hat.  
“Where are we going?” asked the brunette through gritted teeth. That thing was way heavier than it looked. Seb chuckled at that, putting a cowboy hat on Carlos’ head too.  
“To show you”, he said, bopping his nose to emphasise the word you, making Carlos blush, “what you’re missing” he finished with a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! so if you follow me on my tumblr (adoringseb), i mentioned a while ago that i was writing this au. originally i planned to post it as a one shoot but it got too long, so i decided to split it into chapters.  
> i hope you liked the first one! and i apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes, english is not my first language.  
> see you in the next update <3


End file.
